Forest Fire
by The Masked Idiot
Summary: Kusagakure was attacked and demolished, leaving only some survivors. Team seven along with Neji and Tenten are sent to investigate. From there on, series of events are triggered and things become unpredictable as layers unravel.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

**Warning: OCs are present in this story**

* * *

As a tree fell, burning a crimson red, the pandemonium began to cease. A child scrambled away, blood and debris stuck to his tear stricken face as he tried fervently to crawl away. A last cry was heard before silence and the soft thump of a burning tree hitting the ground.

* * *

"Finally! I waited sooooo long for a B rank mission 'ttebayo!" exclaimed Naruto happily, walking ahead of his two teammates and sensei excitedly. Grinning, he slammed open the door and burst inside the Hokage office.

"Where's the B rank!", demanded the loud blonde, looking ecstatic.

"SHUT YOUR MOUTH YOU TWERP, I DON'T NEED A HEADACHE AT EIGHT IN THE MORNING," yelled Tsunade furiously, punching Naruto thus sending him through the open door and crashing into Kakashi. Settling back down on her chair while rubbing her temples, she gestured to the two people standing next to her desk. Kakashi walked in, followed by Sasuke and Sakura who was dragging Naruto.

"Team seven's mission is to go scout the Hidden grass village, Kusagakure. Your objective is to find out who attacked the village, why they attacked it, and to look for any survivors and take them back to Konoha. This will be a joint mission with Hyuuga Neji and Tenten. Also, the mission is a _C_ _rank_ bordering B rank. We're only sending you guys because ever since the sound and sand attack, our forces were slightly lowered. Any questions, ask now since you leave in an hour", informed Tsunade straightening up.

"Hey baa-chan," asked Naruto, getting up from the floor, "where's fuzzy eyebrows and fuzzier eyebrows sensei?"

"They are on a separate mission," stated Neji, staring at Naruto.

"Is that all," inquired the Hokage.

"Tsunade-sama," began Kakashi, "I've heard that Orochimaru may have had a base there."

Organizing a stack of paper, she replied stonily, "If you do encounter Orochimaru, avoid fighting and come back to Konoha right away and inform us. Also, that is one of the reasons why you are investigating the village ruins. No more questions? Okay, now off you all go."

The five genin and jounin exited one by one, leaving Tsunade alone in her office.

'_The kids better be safe... Eh, who am I kidding, of course they'll be alright.' _

She looked down at her desk.

'_I know I won't be if I have to finish all these stupid documents though.'_

Fishing out a bottle of sake, she downed it, overlooking a letter from the lottery company.

"Man, it sure sucks that Kusagakure got wiped out. Quite a feat too, I mean an ENTIRE FREAKING _SHINOBI _VILLAGE albeit not as large, got WIPED OUT. I wonder why though," though Tenten out loud.

The group was walking down the road towards Kusagakure when Tenten broke the silence. Naruto looked at Kakashi expectantly since he was also curious as to who would wipe out an entire hidden village.

"That's a good question, Tenten, but I sadly don't have the answer," answered Kakashi never looking up from his little orange book.

"Oh."

They continued to walk in silence until night fell.

"We're going to set up camp here tonight, and then we'll go to Kusagakure quickly. Get some rest tonight since we don't know what to expect there", declared Kakashi, setting down his pack.

The others followed in suit, taking out their sleeping bags while Sasuke made a small campfire from wood Sakura had gathered while they unpacked. Soon enough, someone brought out cooking utensils while Neji took out a few packs of canned food. Once the food was cooked, everyone ate in silence until Naruto spoke up, mushy tuna in his mouth.

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei, would we meet that creepy snake guy, Oro-something?"

"There's a possibility, but I hope not," replied Kakashi from behind his book.

"Oh."

"So, Tenten, how's it been with your team?" asked Sakura, abruptly changing the topic.

Tenten made a face, "It's good, but we only got two relatively boring B ranks and get way too many D ranks, and the C ranks we do get aren't much fun, although Lee and Gai-sensei still enjoy them." She laughed lightly.

Sakura laughed as well.

"Yea, I thought as much. Same with us I guess; way too many D ranks. But you're lucky, this is our first higher ranked mission really. I mean seriously, the only exciting mission that we got not including our first C rank, was when we had to go hunt this supposedly rare squid!"

"I don't get how it was rare though, it looked like a normal squid 'ttebayo," added Naruto, feeling the need to join the conversation.

"Yes Naruto, because a squid that changed between neon orange and black, is one story tall and is proficient in the use of water jutsus for some reason is definitely normal," interjected Sasuke, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

"Exactly", exclaimed the blonde, "that's gotta be the first time you actually admitted I was right dattebayo!"

"…"

"Usuratonkatchi", muttered Sasuke loud enough so that only Sakura and Neji who were beside could hear.

"Okay kids, sorry to break up your wonderful reminiscing, but it's quite late and I don't want any of you to be anything but alert tomorrow, so Naruto can take first watch, I'll take middle, and who wants last watch?"

"I'll do it," volunteered Tenten, raising her hand.

"Ok, so you all know what to do, alert us if anything happens, don't fall asleep until your shift is over, and keep quiet," said Kakashi, directing the last part at Naruto.

"Aye aye, Kakashi-sensei", hollered Naruto at the top of his lungs before effectively shutting up once he was sent flying, courtesy of Sakura. Tenten nodded and proceeded to sleep, closely followed by everyone else excluding Naruto who was dragging himself back to the temporary campsite.

They all settled down with Naruto standing watch, though no one was really asleep save one, namely Sakura.

By the time Tenten was fast asleep, Naruto started to get restless. Neji, deciding that he couldn't sleep, started to get up to tell Kakashi that he could take the middle shift instead of him. Besides, it's not like he was disrupting the grey haired sensei's sleep; heck he wasn't even sleeping. Not just that; it would be better that Kakashi got better rest since there's a possibility of encountering Orochimaru. It would be more desirable for the leader to be at full strength. As he was about to get up, he heard Naruto move away from his spot and towards his side.

Tensing in the off chance that this Naruto was an imposter, he waited silently until he heard Naruto move over to Sasuke's sleeping bag.

"Oi, teme, you awake," whispered Naruto surprisingly quiet for a usually loud ninja.

Sasuke didn't move. When Naruto continued to sit there staring at him, or at least that's what Neji thought he was doing, Sasuke stirred.

"What do you want, dobe."

Deciding to turn on his Byakugan since his chakra would be replenished in the morning anyways, he watched the two.

"Eh, just wanted to talk to someone. It's too quiet, dattebayo," whined Naruto quietly.

"Ever heard of sleep before? Because some people need it", responded Sasuke sounding irritated, a scowl present on his face as he turned to face Naruto.

"Yeah, but you weren't sleeping."

'_How did Naruto, the incredibly dumb, yet determined Naruto realize Sasuke wasn't sleeping when I didn't? I only _thought_ Kakashi was awake, I didn't actually know'_ thought Neji.

"How do you know," questioned Sasuke.

It turned out the paranoia he felt was wasted.

"Come on; no living human sleeps like an ice cube stuck in frozen ice cream 'ttebayo," stated Naruto in a matter-of-fact tone, all the while looking as serious as Naruto could ever possibly look like.

"Hn. Your description amuses me," commented Sasuke dryly, "So what did you want to talk about."

Scratching his head, Naruto sheepishly replied, "I dunno. I Just wanted to talk to someone I guess."

The Uchiha sighed.

"Just go to sleep now and wake up Kakashi; your shift should be about done now anyways, Naruto."

"Yeah, I need all the sleep I can get if I need to kick some enemy ninjas butts tomorrow dattebayo," agreed Naruto, getting up.

He walked over to Kakashi's sleeping bag. Just as he reached his hand out to poke his sensei awake, a hand shot up and lifted the perverted book off of Kakashi's face. Naruto hopped back a few feet, a ridiculous expression on his face.

"Good job, Naruto. You didn't make as much noise as I thought you would during your shift. Now, go get some sleep so you can 'kick some enemy ninjas butts tomorrow," said Kakashi, sliding into sitting position with his legs crossed.

"Yosh," exclaimed Naruto as quietly as he could before crawling over to his sleeping bag. The moment he was in his sleeping bag, he stopped moving altogether and started snoring.

'_Talk about a quick sleeper,' _thought Neji.

"Now Neji, I'm sure you want to do the middle shift, but that would give you less time to replenish your chakra, and considering how you've been using your Byakugan for quite a while now, I suggest you just sleep. You too, Sasuke," suggested Kakashi nonchalantly, opening to the first page of his 'icha icha' book.

He was met by a grunt and the sound of someone turning around. Satisfied, he sat alerted his other senses while he read his book.

'_He has a point', _thought Neji grudgingly as he turned to face away from the fire, releasing his Byakugan. He had expected nothing less than Kakashi realizing he was awake, although Kakashi knowing his intentions had come as a small surprise. It's not that he didn't want to sleep though; it's just that he felt that something big was going to happen soon, and big doesn't necessarily mean good.

Deciding to trust Kakashi to keep away the feeling for tonight, he soon fell asleep.

* * *

"'Kay everyone, time to wake up," cheered Tenten loudly to the group. The night and morning had been pretty good, except for the feeling of dread that was slowly settling on her, causing her to put a choke hold grip on one of her many kunai. As people started to wake, she began to kindle the fire and take out a pan from a storing scroll, making a quick breakfast of eggs and bread.

By the time the last person was up and eating, Tenten had finished quickly washing the pan and had packed. Once everyone else was done doing the same, they set out quicker than before, choosing to go by forest this time instead of by road since it was faster. As the group traveled in companionable silence, give or take a few complaints from Naruto, they soon reached the outskirts of the forest, just as the sun was an hour away from setting.

"Okay team, you will split into pairs to find your objective by the time the sun sets." Kakashi gestured to the sun. "Report all your findings no matter how small back at this spot. Go in pairs, and keep an eye out. Remember that there's a possibility of enemy ninjas lurking around still. I'll take Sakura, Naruto will go with Sasuke, and Tenten will go with Neji since they have experience together. Okay, scatter."

With that said, the pairs headed off to search through the burnt down hidden village of grass.

"Neji, I'm going to go look around, okay? Oh, and don't use your Byakugan too much: only if you need to inspect something you can't get close to", said Tenten, speeding away in the opposite direction they were traveling.

"Hm. Be careful," replied Neji quietly to himself. Too bad Tenten already heard it. She allowed herself a quick grin before focusing once again on her surroundings. Looking around, she saw rubble; rocks, gravel, burnt wood, fallen trees, mud, dead bodies, a twitching foot, some ash-

'_HOLY HOKAGES, A TWITCHING FOOT?"_

Turning back, Tenten headed towards the pile of wood where the foot was at. As she lifted the first burnt wood plank off, she reminded herself that there was a possibility that this was an enemy. Pausing in her work, she took out a kunai as she continued to lift the debris cautiously. Though cautiously didn't necessarily mean slowly. Heck, it was a miracle that this person was still alive and wasn't scoped out by the attackers in the 2 days after the attack.

As she lifted the last large plank of wood carefully, she was met with the face of a boy around her age. His eyes were closed, face slightly gaunt, and his breathing was shallow judging from the rise and fall of her chest. Throwing the plank away, she bent down to lift the poor boy up.

'_Poor kid… I can't even begin to imagine how he's going to feel when he wakes up and realizes he's alone…' _she thought, sad about the boy's fate.

Still holding him, she shifted her grip on the kunai so as to not impale her or the guy and carefully climbed out of the debris, watching her footing and missing the moment when his eyes snapped open.

* * *

"_**SHI-**_"

Cursing, Kakashi motioned to Sakura to quickly follow him as he headed towards the scream.

'_Damn, who was it? Can't be Sasuke or Naruto since Naruto would be screaming his ass off and I'd see fire or hear chidori. Sakura is with me, so that leaves Neji and Tenten. Neji I'm sure wouldn't scream and neither would Tenten unless she was surprised, but it's impossible for those two to be surprised with Neji's Byakugan unless…'_

The thought hit Kakashi like a rock. A stupidly large rock that screamed at him for not making sure the joint members actually _stayed_ together and had not split up.

"TENTEN," called out Kakashi loudly. He was met by Neji calling Tenten's name as well. So Neji was completely fine. Seeing a moving orange dot in the distance followed by a harder to see dot, Naruto and Sasuke were relatively fine as well unless the person following Naruto was the enemy. Sakura was still behind him; it was Tenten whose location he didn't know.

Once he made sure Tenten and everyone else was alright, he was going to have a long talk with the two about splitting up when they were assigned as partners.

'_Tch, I shouldn't have agreed to let her search on her own,' _thought Neji furiously, looking around with his Byakugan. Just moments before, he had heard the scream and had quickly hurried over towards it. Hearing Kakashi call out Tenten's name only further worried the Hyuuga. Before he could stop himself, he had called out his teammate's name as well.

Once he pinpointed on what looked like Tenten's chakra network, he scoured the area with his eyes, seeing nothing but dead bodies, some with a bit of chakra left from before they were killed. Turning off his Byakugan, Neji arrived to the spot quickly, only to see Tenten standing alone with no one else in sight.

When she didn't move when Neji got closer, he called out, "Tenten."

She jerked her head up and faced him.

"Huh? Oh… ah yea… uh, what?"

"Are you alright? I heard a scream," asked Neji, some worry slipping through.

"Yea, of course I'm fine! I just got ambushed, but once they saw that they were losing, they ran away. I just got a few scratches," replied Tenten.

At that moment, Kakashi leapt down closely followed by Sakura, then Naruto and Sasuke from the other side.

"What happened," questioned Kakashi, silently fuming.

"She got ambushed," answered Neji.

"I don't want to hear anything from you yet," snapped Kakashi scathingly.

"It's not his fault", interjected Tenten.

"I don't want to hear anything from you either except for the answer to my question: what happened?" repeated the furious teacher, calmly.

"As he said," she pointed to Neji, "I was ambushed by an unknown ninja. Once they realized that they were losing though, they escaped quickly."

"Do you remember how they looked or what techniques they used?", asked Kakashi.

"Yea, it was a female with short black hair and brown eyes. I couldn't see her forehead protector though, and she appeared to use mainly taijutsu and some fire ninjutsu," responded Tenten.

"Which way did she escape to?"

Without hesitation, the weapons mistress pointed north.

Nodding once, Kakashi informed them, "It's good that you're alright. We're going back to our meeting spot for today. Report everything you've gathered."

Everyone acknowledged his instructions and set off towards the location. When the group of six reached there, they sat down and waited for Kakashi to start. He gestured at Naruto and Sasuke to begin.

"While we were investigating, we found an opened capsule with strange liquid inside," started Sasuke, pulling out said capsule in a plastic bag.

"We looked around that place, and saw bits of really cool and weird stuff dattebayo. There were some dead people, but some of the dead people there looked kinda strange, like, we saw this guy, and parts of his left arm were grey," continued Naruto.

"Also, judging from the burns on the corpses and objects, I think that the fire was chakra infused," finished Sasuke.

Kakashi nodded.

"Good," he gestured at Gai's students, "Neji, and then Tenten."

Neji began, "There was an underground tunnel under a collapsed building that stretched throughout the middle of Kusagakure and went 6 levels deep. Most of the objects there have presumably been taken away or destroyed, since the place was exceedingly empty."

"I found one survivor and she told me information regarding the attack. Before she finished though, an enemy attacked us and killed her," informed Tenten.

"What did she tell ya?", asked Naruto curiously.

"That the attack was during the afternoon and in broad daylight. There were two attackers, but she only caught a glimpse of one of them. Before she could tell me what they looked like, yea. You know the rest," answered Tenten, surprisingly serious.

"Hm… okay. Well, Sakura and I found some strange liquids on the ground, similar to what Naruto and Sasuke found. We also found some patches of earth that were damp with water, but the water had a bit of chakra in it. Also, judging from the state of the bodies, they weren't able to put up much of a fight since there were mostly killing blows and no other injuries, leading me to believe that the two attackers are highly dangerous, and possibly from Akatsuki," stated Kakashi gravely. Sakura nodded at places while Kakashi spoke.

"Akatsuki? You mean those guys in the cloaks that came last time? Dammit, how many more lives do they want to ruin", yelled Naruto angrily, clenching his fists.

Sasuke closed his eyes, trying to contain himself. Akatsuki. _Itachi_. Why was Itachi so strong? Dammit, how the hell was he supposed to kill his brother when his brother was part of the organization that most probably was the one that destroyed the entire village?

"Okay, I think that's enough information. We'll head back to Konoha now. The summary of the information is that Orochimaru's base was indeed here, as many clues point towards it, and that there's a possibility that the Akatsuki attacked this place," Kakashi said, standing up.

The others followed in suit and were just about to head off when Kakashi held stopped them.

"Since there is a possibility of another ambush, we're going to go back to Konoha in a formation with Neji at the front, me directly behind followed by Sakura then Tenten. On either side of Sakura will be Naruto and Sasuke," informed the masked teacher.

"Kakashi-sensei, not to be rude or anything, but how come I'm in the middle and most protected by everyone?" questioned Sakura, sounding somewhat miffed.

'_What an idiot. And she's supposed to be smart.'_

Sasuke was the one that replied, "It's because you're our only medic nin, and being our only one, if you're killed or injured, the rest of us will run into problems as well if we become injured."

"Correct, Sasuke. I'll explain the rest as well. Neji will be in the front to scout out enemies, since he has his Byakugan. I'm next because I will be giving the orders and can smell anything odd first, least it passes Neji. Sakura, you already know. Sasuke and Naruto are beside her to add protection to her and be the brute force if we need to fight, and Tenten will be back-up since her weapons are good for long, mid, and close range," explained Kakashi. With that said, he motioned to Neji and set off, everyone else following.

They went in silence, stopping for camp once the sun disappeared and they were far enough from Kusagakure. Repeating the same procedure as the night before, they fell asleep, this time with Sakura on first watch, Neji on middle, and Sasuke on last.

Sasuke slowly fell asleep, still thinking about his brother… And the prospect of Orochimaru. He knew that the cursed seal made him weaker, but it also could make him stronger. With his mental debate swirling around his mind, he slept. No sooner had he closed his eyes and lost consciousness, he was being shaken rather roughly on his shoulder. Grasping a kunai, he opened his eyes and saw Neji.

Realizing that it was his shift already, he got up and stretched briefly before getting up while Neji went over to sleep. As he passed Neji though, the Hyuuga spoke a few words to him quietly.

"She is unavailable."

If most people heard this, they would have thought that Sasuke had tried to get to someone but they weren't available (namely Naruto would think this), but this was Sasuke who heard it, and he already knew perfectly well what the Hyuuga was talking about. Tilting his head forwards ever so slightly to acknowledge the sentence, he continued over to the other side of the campsite where he proceeded to take out some kunai to practice with. After a practicing for a while, he collected his weapons and turned around to observe the sleeping brown haired kunoichi.

No one could see that the Uchiha had turned on his Sharingan in the dark of the morning. Sighing, he shut it off and then sat down. There was no sign of an illusion on the girl, nor did it seem like a genjutsu. Unless the person was doing something similar to Naruto's sexy technique or was subjected to a mind technique, this was the real Tenten. Though he did see what looked like a small genjutsu over her eyes, but then again, he didn't know if she usually had a genjutsu over her eyes or not. Besides, her eyes were closed so he wouldn't be able to see past it anyways.

'_What Hyuuga said though… he sounded sure that this wasn't Tenten. Maybe he saw that her chakra network was different? That's probably it. So what are we keeping her around for? Not just that, but there's plenty of proof that she was lying to us yesterday, such as when she said she fought, there wasn't a single weapon on the ground. She said the enemy knew fire techniques, but not a single part of the area had been freshly burnt, nor was there smoke. Hyuuga probably also noticed if her personality changed slightly, him being on her team.'_

The more he thought, the more it made sense that Tenten was most likely not Tenten. Getting up, he walked over to Kakashi. The sun was just beginning to poke its head up in the eastern horizon.

"Kakashi," Sasuke said quietly, silently asking if he knew.

"I know," was his response.

The raven haired boy went back to the side of his sleeping bag and began to pull out storing scrolls from his pack. As he unpacked two slices of bread, he sat down and ate them, waiting for everyone else to wake up, and waiting for the day to start.

* * *

**A/N: Well, I'm trying to write a story with OCs in this. Not quite sure how this will turn out, but guess what! I actually have a plot for this story instead of making things up along the way to get to the conclusion! **

**Thanks for giving this story a chance and reading the first chapter!**

**EDIT ****AGAIN: I found my story planner, so all's good, hopefully. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

**Warning: OCs are in this story.**

* * *

"Yosh! I hope baa-chan gives us better missions now, with our mission completed perfectly!" cheered Naruto happily, heading towards ichiraku ramen with Sakura and Sasuke.

"I wonder why Neji and Tenten didn't want to come though", pondered Sakura, walking beside Sasuke.

The journey back to Konoha from the mission went fairly well; Naruto talking rapidly now that they were safer, Sakura occasionally hitting Naruto, and everyone else traveling quietly. Except Kakashi, Sasuke, and Neji noticed that one voice was missing, Tenten's. 'Tenten' didn't talk unless Sakura asked her questions, and even then she only gave vague, sheepish replies that didn't quite answer the pink haired kunoichi's questions.

Once they reached the Hokage tower to confirm with the Hokage that they had completed the mission successfully, Kakashi had handed her the mission report that he had written the night before, before disappearing. Naruto and Sakura had invited Neji and Tenten to have ramen with them, but they both had refused. Tenten was called to stay in the room though, while the Godaime had dismissed everyone else.

Needless to say, Sasuke already had a feeling why 'Tenten' was told to stay for a bit.

"…Sasuke? Hey, are you listening, Teme?" asked Naruto, waving a hand in front of his face.

"What", asked Sasuke, irritated.

"Aww, come on, don't act like there's a stick up your ass, although there probably is one", complained the blonde ninja, receiving a lump on his head for 'insulting my Sasuke-kun'.

The Godaime will take care of it, he told himself, and with that, continued on with the rest of his normal day.

"NEJI, MY ETERNAL RIVAL! YOU HAVE RETURNED!" exclaimed an exuberant Lee, bouncing towards Neji, followed by Gai.

"NEJI, MY WONDERFUL STUDENT! WAS YOUR WONDERFUL MISION AS GLORIOUS OURS?"

Neji sighed and internally winced at their matching green spandexes. At least these two were alright.

"BUT WAIT! Where has our beautiful blossom gone to?" questioned Gai, lowering his arms from his nice guy pose.

The Hyuuga prodigy frowned. The Godaime had never said that the information was classified, and it was obvious that their team was going to figure it out soon anyways.

"Tenten is not well", informed Neji. It was true in a way; he, nor anyone else except maybe the imposter, knew where the real Tenten currently was, or if she was well or not.

Lee shook his head and sighed before suddenly perking up and announcing, "Then why don't we all go and visit our wonderful flower and cheer her up with our youth?"

"That is a most wonderful idea, my youthful student Lee! Come, Neji, Lee; let us go and encourage our lovely flower Tenten to get better!", declared Gai, taking up his nice guy pose once again.

Taking in the situation, Neji refrained from outwardly face palming. It was refreshing in a way though, having his teammates still being carefree and all. Once he realized that the two spandex clad ninjas were starting to run off towards Tenten's house, Neji began to stop them when out of nowhere; Kakashi appeared in a puff of smoke, holding his little orange book in one hand, and the other flipped up in a casual, "yo".

"AHH KAKASHI, MY ETERNAL RIVAL! WHAT A WONDERFUL COINCIDENCE THIS IS! SADLY THOUGH, I AM UNABLE TO CHALLENGE YOU; I MUST GET GOING TO VISIT OUR SWEET BLOSSUM TENTEN", exclaimed Gai, sounding cheerful yet slightly depressed at the same time. But only _slightly_.

"Hmmm that's all fine and dandy, but the Hokage wants to see you, and I would like to speak with Neji for a moment", informed Kakashi uncaringly, casting a quick glance at Neji while saying the last part.

"EVEN WHEN ACTING AS A MESSENGER, YOU ARE SO COOL! AS EXPECTED OF MY RIVAL! LEE, I WILL BE BACK", yelled out Gai, disappearing towards the Hokage tower, leaving only a trail of dust behind.

"YOSH", saluted Lee, tears (of happiness?) falling from his eyes, "I SHALL DO 300 PUSH UPS, THEN 400 SITUPS, AND 600 KICKS AND PUNCHES UNTIL YOU RETURN! GOOD LUCK IN YOUR TALK, MY ETERNAL RIVAL NEJI!"

As Lee dropped to the ground and began his ridiculous exercise, Kakashi turned and walked away, wordlessly telling Neji to follow.

'_I have a feeling I know what he's going to talk about',_thought Neji.

Once the pair were further away from their original spot and under a tree, Kakashi turned around and snapping his book shut, asked, "Now, I know a ninjas mission is considered the most important thing, and quite frankly, you might not care all too much about what I am about to say, but do you know what I'm about to tell you?"

Neji nodded. Yup, he could definitely see where this was going to.

"Good, then let's get straight to the point", Kakashi continued, "I technically don't have the rights to scold you, but you have been on a mission with my team, and this is concerning the mission. When the captain gives you the orders, you follow, right?"

He didn't answer it; it was a rhetorical question anyways.

"So when I say you are assigned a pair during the mission, you should know that it means you _stay as a pair until the mission ends unless the captain says otherwise, no matter how much you want to go separately right?_ True, splitting up would have proven to get the mission done faster, but this is a _C rank bordering B ranked_mission. A mission where harm can and probably will come to you. I don't doubt you and Tenten's ability to work together, but next time, _remember_ to follow instructions and not let your comrades wander off alone into the hands of the enemy", finished Kakashi. _If there's even a next time_. The un-said thought lingered between the two, before Kakashi finally pulled out his book, turned around, and body flickering away without the usual puff of smoke.

He stood there for a while, going over what Kakashi had just said. It was true, he was partially at fault since he didn't even try to prevent Tenten from going off on her own, and look where that had landed them now. Sighing, he slowly paced towards training area 17, hoping it was empty. There was nothing to do now except wait for further instructions and hope that his teammate was alright.

* * *

_Earlier in the Hokage office…_

"Good job on your mission, Tenten", stated the Godaime absently.

"Thank you, Hokage-sama", replied Tenten respectfully.

Tsunade narrowed her eyes ever so slightly as she glanced up at the kunoichi from her pile of paper work. Judging from the times she had complimented the girl, she should have pride and admiration written all over her. Then again, this wasn't that girl. Heck, even the report said so, along with good, solid, proof. Just one more hint though…

"Tenten, you know how your birthday is September 6, also known as in a few days, so would you want to go drinking with me? It's not every day that a woman gets older you know", asked Tsunade, hiding her suspicion with enthusiasm. Deep inside though, she was silently fuming at choosing to use birthdays to confirm her suspicions.

'_Calm down Tsunade, we aren't celebrating yours. Find your happy place."_

"Oh, no, it's fine, Hokage-sama", she put her hands out in front and smiled, "I don't think it would be good for you to go drinking just for the sake of my birthday. Besides, it wouldn't be good for your health"

"You…"

Tenten tensed.

"ARE YOU ACUSING ME OF BEING TOO OLD TO DRINK?!", the furious blonde raged, "Ehem. Sorry for my outburst, I don't usually act this way around infiltrators."

The chocolate haired girl's eyes widened a fraction for a brief instant before she found herself with two Anbu on both sides of her and a man with silver hair and three fourths of his face covered pointing a kunai at her neck behind her.

"Kakashi-sensei? What's going on?", exclaimed the girl, surprised.

"You have been charged with infiltration of Konoha and for attacking a Konoha nin", Kakashi deadpanned.

She looked confused for a moment.

"What? I didn't attack anyone", she exclaimed indignantly, "and how do you infiltrate your own village?"

Nobody answered her except Tsunade.

"The real question is, why you infiltrated the village, how much did you find out about, and which village or organization are you from." She glowered at the brown haired girl.

"I don't-"

"Don't give me that crap; I've already had enough of it. Answer the questions or you're heading to the T and I rooms", Tsunade yelled at the sputtering girl, slamming her fist on her desk.

"But I don't know what you're talking about", she protested, unable to hold back the slight tremor of fear in her voice.

"Konoha isn't as kind as it is made out to be. This is your last chance to talk."

"No, wait, listen to me. What makes you think I'm not me?" yelled out the girl furiously, only to have the kunai pressed against her neck.

Tsunade nodded and the two Anbu and Jounin disappeared, dragging an unwilling girl with them towards the Torture and Interrogation rooms. Once alone in the office, Tsunade fished out a bottle of sake and sighed. When she thumped down the finished bottle, it was then that she saw the mail from a few days ago from the lottery company.

She had won.

Feeling a headache coming, she called for a team of Anbu to come.

'_Might as well hand out one last mission before I start practicing katas on people',_ she thought to herself dryly.

A few moments later, Gai appeared in her office.

"HOKAGE-SAMA! I HEARD YOU HAVE CALLED FOR ME!"

Check that. She called for a headache inducing jounin to come. It's at times like these that she wished she didn't send all the Anbu out on missions. Straightening up, she looked at the spandex clad ninja in front of her.

"I trust that you already know about Tenten?"

"I heard from Neji that our little flower is not well, but that isn't all there is to it, is it, Hokage-sama", asked Gai, looking for a confirmation.

"Correct", she confirmed, "Tenten is currently MIA after being attacked by an unknown ninja. Her whereabouts are unknown, but the infiltrator is currently being questioned. I thought you should know about it, being her instructor and such. Also, could you do me a favor while you're leaving and get Team eight over here?"

"Of course, Hokage-sama. I am also very grateful that you have informed me. FEAR NOT THOUGH, OUR TENTEN WILL DEFINETLY BRAVE THROUGH ALL OBSTACLES WITH HER YOUTHFULNESS!", said Gai, yelling out the last part with such solid trust and assurance that Tsunade couldn't help but smile at.

With that said, he bounded out of the office in search of Team eight, but not before dropping off a kunai, presumably Tenten's on the desk. A few minutes later, a knock was heard on the door. Telling them to come in, she saw Shizune enter and greet her a good afternoon, afterwards dropping off a stack of paper before leaving. After grouchily staring at the paper for a few more minutes, a she heard a knock on the door again. Repeating the process, the door opened and in stepped team eight.

"Alright! A mission", cheered Kiba, Akamaru barking enthusiastically in agreement.

The other boy in the high collared coat and sunglasses looked pointedly at Kiba, causing the two of them to shut up while the hyuga heiress smiled slightly at her teammates antics.

Kurenai, the squad leader stepped up and bowed slightly towards her.

"Hokage-sama", the genjutsu expert said respectfully, closely followed by hinata. Shino inclined his head forwards a bit while Kiba and Akamaru waved. Or wagged in Akamaru's case.

"Team eight. It's good to see you all in high spirits. You will be taking a B rank mission; I trust you can handle that?"

"Who do you think we are", snorted the Inuzuka.

"Um… what Kiba-kun m-meant to say i-is that we can h-handle it", corrected Hinata timidly.

Shino nodded, and then the three of them turned to look at their instructor. Sighing, she gave in.

"If I may ask, what's the mission", questioned Kurenai.

"Your second B rank mission: search and, if possible, retrieve. Mission is around two to three weeks. Area of reconnaissance is North-Western borders of the Fire Country, near Kusagakure mainly. Objective of the search and mission is Tenten and information on any one to six member groups that have members with fire and water affinities. Do you accept", finished the Godaime.

"WHAT? TENTEN? WE'RE LOOKING FOR TENTEN? HOW THE HELL DID- WHAT HAPPENED?" exclaimed Kiba, surprised and angry.

The rest of the team seemed equally as shocked; Hinata had widened her eyes and started fidgeting, Shino had narrowed his eyes and shoved his hands deeper into his pockets, and Kurenai's facial features turned slightly worried.

"Kiba, Shino, Hinata, do you think you're ready for this mission", asked Kurenai, worriedly.

"HELL YES, NO ONE TAKES ONE OF OUR COMRADES AND GETS AWAY WITH IT", agreed Kiba passionately.

"I-I agree with K-Kiba-kun", stuttered Hinata, though a determined look spread on her face.

"Yes", was Shino's simple, but determined reply.

"Okay, team eight accepts", the genjutsu expert agreed, slightly reluctant.

Tsunade nodded.

"You can leave for your mission tomorrow morning; take this time to pack and ask questions. Beware of people from the hidden sound, hidden cloud and anyone wearing cloaks with red clouds. Stay cautious if you happen upon any Kusa or any other ninja. Also, make sure you stay and travel as a group. Do NOT let any one of your team go off alone during this mission. As for Kiba's question, she disappeared after separating from her group", she informed them.

After they left, Kiba chatting furiously about how Tenten of all people could get kidnapped and that the perpetrators were stupid assholes, Tsunade let her head fall into her open hands, massaging the side of her head. She really didn't want to send out a genin team for a B ranked mission, but they were the best stealth team currently in Konoha; any less and the mission would have higher chance of failure.

Sighing, she took out yet another jug of sake and chugging it, attempted to wash away her worries.

'_At times like these, I seriously wish I wasn't Hokage',_she thought, serious about it for once.

He woke to himself bound to a chair in the center of a room. Standing in front of him was a large, bulky figure, with scars on his face. The shadows from the light cast onto his face gave an intimidating and imposing look to the already strict looking man. He was glad the light was rather dim though; bright lights would have killed his eyes and his genjutsu would have fallen apart.

'_Judging from his posture and looks, I'm assuming he is a ninja who highly follows rules and commandments. Most likely a highly experienced ninja, and probably is the type to get straight to the point, otherwise he… he wouldn't be standing in front of me in Konoha's T and I department…',_he analyzed, refraining from gulping once he realized what position he was in.

"You're awake at last. We didn't want to bother any Yamanakas unless you got particularly stubborn, but the point is, you will give us answers either way", the scarred man deadpanned.

He looked straight at his interrogator, challenging him, fully aware of his slowly rising panic.

Responding with a look of his own, he began, "What is your real name and village?"

'_I'll tell them what they need, I have to stay alive to find out why and who attacked, and I will not be subjected to dying here.'_

"Riyu, Kusagakure."

"Family name?"

"Tekutsu", he lied smoothly. Ibiki frowned but didn't question him any further.

"State your reason for infiltrating Konoha and attacking a Konoha nin."

His mind whirred, searching for a plausible excuse in the few seconds that he had before being required to reply.

"The ninja, Tenten, was holding a kunai so I thought she was about to attack me when I woke from being unconscious after the Kusagakure attack. I took her spot and entered Konoha because I wanted to know more about the attack when I heard that her group's mission was to find out about the attack", he replied, changing his facial expression slightly to fit his feelings about the explanation.

Ibiki scrutinized him before turning around and exiting the room, leaving Riyu alone there again.

'_Hah, Konoha shinobi are so freaking easy to lie to. You can make them believe anything',_he thought triumphantly.

'_That's only because you added in a bit of your family jutsu to help you',_whispered another voice in the back of his head.

'_It's no longer the family technique; it's my technique. In case you haven't noticed, I'm the only one left',_he snapped at himself, feeling foolish afterwards. He was arguing with _himself_ over something as trivial as this. A few moments later, the door creaked open again, and in stepped the person from before.

"The Godaime has decreed that you may leave this village a year after the ninja you attacked is found. During this time you will have surveillance twenty four-seven in one way or another. If the Tenten is found dead, you will be executed. If she is seriously harmed, you will take full responsibility. Also, take off your disguise, it's repulsing to see an enemy pose as a comrade, much less a male pretending to be female", he told him in perfect monotone.

Doing a quick 'kai', the bindings fell and the same two anbu from before escorted him out, disappearing once outside of the building. Relived to be outside, it was only now that he realized how lucky he was to not have received torture of any kind while being questioned.

* * *

Strolling over to a bench under the shade of a tree, he let his calm façade from inside the room slip and fall. Sighing, he plopped down onto the seat and buried his face in his hands.

"What have I gotten myself into", he moaned to no one in particular. He wished his cousin was with him now. He knew that his cousin was most probably the only one other than him who was still alive. Now if only he could somehow find him…

"Tenten?"

Riyu looked up towards the voice. In front of him stood a blonde haired girl with bangs hanging in front of one eye and a short ponytail behind her.

"Ah, hey", he replied, smiling.

"You alright? You seem kinda, check that, _really_down. I wouldn't blame you though, having two teammates that scream 'youth' every ten seconds", she said, nodding sagely.

'_She seems a bit younger than me, carefree and has lots of confidence in herself. Probably is acquainted or friends with Tenten, and is a ninja. '_

"No worries, I'm great, really. So, how's your team been?" Riyu asked, changing the topic.

"My team? Eh, we're good; same old, same old. Shikamaru's still being as lazy as ever and Choji just wants to go to the barbeque even if all we completed is a boring D rank mission. Asuma-sensei on the other hand", she giggled, "I think is starting to like Kurenai-sensei. I mean, I've seen them walking together to discuss casual, non work related stuff."

Stopping from her giggles, she straightened up and looked at Tenten, or, Riyu.

"So what's up with you?"

"Err, yeah, the same stuff. We just came back from a joint mission with team seven", he said.

The blonde girl gasped.

"You went on a joint mission with _Sasuke-kun?_ Luckyyy! Sasuke-kun is such a good guy; luck must be on your side to have given you a mission with him! I mean-"

As the girl continued to ramble, Riyu added another point to her list.

'_Fangirl. Damn, I wish I had to exchange places with a dude instead. I don't really feel like listening to some useless rant.'_

Meanwhile, two boys walked over to them.

"Come on, Ino. As troublesome as it is, we have to go get a mission now", stated the slouched boy lazily. Probably Shikamaru, which meant the other, was Choji.

"Ah, right. See ya later Tenten", exclaimed Ino, waving before bounding off towards the Hokage tower, as Shikamaru and Choji followed after her.

"Yea, see you, Ino, Shikamaru, Choji", he waved back.

Riyu watched them go, and then slumped back on the bench. He closed his eyes and sighed dejectedly. Here he was, being all friendly with the villagers of one of his attackers. Dammit, he even got so careless that they figured him out. Even with all the precautions he took.

'_I guess nothing can slip through the Byakugan in the end. On an off note, I guess I did okay staying inconspicuous for so long with all the lies I had to make up on the spot and all',_he pointed out to herself.

Leaning backwards, he opened his eyes and let out another sigh. It doesn't really matter who he socializes with in the end anyways, as long as he could get answers. It's underhanded, but if he could just find who is precious to him and kill or lure him out through his precious person… of course, he had to find out exactly who did attacked to begin with. Or at least find out why this person killed off the entire village.

Really though, there's no reason for some stranger to attack the entire village. The only major thing that he could think about that his village did was hide one of Orochimaru's bases in their village; but even that shouldn't result in the entire village being massacred.

'_Just thinking won't do me any good. I might as well go and find a place to live in for now. Wait.'_

"DAMMIT YOU CAN'T JUST KEEP ME HERE WITHOUT FOOD OR SHELTER OR MONEY", he yelled out, hoping for some divine miracle to appear suddenly with what he needed.

"Tenten-san! Is something wrong", asked a spandex clad boy with a bowl cut and large eyebrows.

"GAH DON'T RANDOMLY POP UP IN FRONT OF ME", exclaimed Riyu surprised, causing him to have a brief spasm.

"My apologies for startling you, Tenten-san. My youth must not be at its best right now", he sighed. "Anyways, do you require help?"

"Yeah… I was wondering if I could find my house and my teammates. I kinda forgot 'cause some stuff happened during a mission", he stated, acting sheepish.

"DO NOT WORRY! I SHALL GUIDE YOU TO YOUR HOME AND TEAMMATES. Well, actually I don't quite know where your home is at the moment, but with the springtime of youth filled inside of us, WE SHALL FIND OUT", declared the boy, a determined smile spreading across his face.

He didn't know if it was his imagination or not, but he could've sworn the boy's smile had turned sad for a moment.

"Yea, thanks a bunch…?"

"I AM THE WONDERFUL GREEN BEAST OF KONOHA, ROCK LEE", he exclaimed, giving him a thumbs up and a sparkle on his teeth.

"Lee-san. So, onwards to my home?"

"FOLLOW ME!", called out Lee, taking off towards the road.

By the time Riyu caught up with Lee, he was panting. He had never been so thankful that he had done all those extra training sessions his father had insisted on. He really was better at traps than physical stuff. Reaching up to touch his ear, it was then that he realized that he had henge'd the earring as well since the girl, Tenten, didn't have one.

"Is… Is this my home? Thanks", he thanked him.

"I am just glad to be able to help. Also, if you want to find your teammates, go to training area 17 tomorrow at seven AM. NOW I AM OFF TO TRAIN! I HOPE YOU HAVE A YOUTHFUL DAY!"

And with that, he left, leaving Riyu inwardly gapping at the dust trails of eccentric boy.

'_Come now, Riyu, don't get too involved with them',_he mentally scolded himself.

'_But if I want to find out about him and them, I should get more acquaintances to help me',_a voice argued.

'_Yes, but these people probably are acquaintances with him',_he reasoned back.

'_Stop making stupid excuses. You know there's no point in creating them',_persuaded the voice.

'_Tch if he didn't attack the village this wouldn't have happened to begin with anyways.'_

'_Now now, don't go all angst like and emo on me.'_

'…_Screw you.'_

And with that, he entered into the apartment and slammed the door, signaling the end of his internal conversation.

* * *

**A/N: Oh, I don't know. Still can't find those plans. I'm editing chapters that I already have, though. Hopefully this will turn out alright. I just seem to feel like this chapter failed though. Sorry readers T-T Also, I found the planning sheet so now it won't be next year y the time the next update arrives. Thanks for reading :D **


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